Trail Journals for Saturday's Holiday trip.....

[Rob]

    Ok Ladies and Gents, I hope those of us who were unable to join the Saturday Holiday trip will get to share the experience via the Trail Journals Post. I trust all that were in attendance had a good time and returned safely home. I'm looking foward to your posts.    Happy Trails....Rob

[Joshua Szulecki]

Rob,

My photos are up in a Trail Journal Thread. I'll leave a words to somebody who didn't just spend two hours cropping and resizing pictures.   

[Skippy]

Hey Guy's, Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the walk and meeting everyone today.
Josh,the pictures really look good!!After everyone left I decided to stay a little longer and ended up walking to Fall Creek Falls.They had plenty of water running over them and are really very pretty.
Thanks Suz for leading the outing today,You did good

[Suz]

Hey,

It was great meeting you guys and having you hike with us! 

Skippy, how much further was Fall Creek Falls (time wise)?  Did your feet get wet crossing the river?  I was thinking of walking Turkey Foot Canyon next week-end and continuing from the bridge or parking lot on to Falls Creek, i f it isn't as cold next weekend.  Some of the hikers aren't as hardy, but they do want a sense of adventure...  Normally we hike from 10:00-2:00.  Today's actual hike wasn't that long, so I need more to add to it.  I'm thinking that if I leave off the Sipsey Rec area and just continue to Falls Creek that will be about right. 

Josh, the pictures are great.  Sorry we made you play catch up at the Rec area, but we were trying to find a place out of the wind.  Didn't find it!  We didn't get any snow further north. 

I posted the pictures we took on my gallery.

Oh, yeah!  Do a tick check!  I found one on the ride home...

Hope to hike with y'all soon!

Suz

[Joshua Szulecki]

Suz,

That sounds like a great trip to take people on. Turkey Foot Canyon looks like an excellent introduction to Sipsey for moderately surefooted individuals, and I might use it myself to introduce some friends to the area.

Don't worry about making me catch up. People who take lots of pictures get used to running a little behind. It usually means covering less ground, but that is the trade-off. I'm also usually a bit faster. I haven't hiked more than 1/4mi since October or November, and not more than a mile since summer. Not a good time to wear new boots, and carry extra camera gear. I used to just pack my normal backpack with the equipment I needed, rather than carrying my full camera pack. I might go back for bushwhacks and non-official trail hikes, as that was a lot more weight than I expected, and really not suitable for steep areas, as I was REALLY off-balance.

Since I've now know been told you have a liking for bushwhacks, I'll be pushing a little harder for an Eagle/Little Ugly Bushwhack before the leaves come back. Have you been in that area?

Thanks for the tick warning!

[Skippy]

Hey Suz, Fall Creek is only about a 30 minute walk from the rec area. The river crossing is as good as it is ever gonna get. Someone has placed rocks across the river and if you have some sticks you can use them to balance with.Right now the water depth is only about 1 ft deep. On the way back from the falls,in the first canyon on your left,notice the Huge Popular tree.It has to be as big as the one on trail 204.

If you did not want to try and cross on the rocks,you would have to wade across the river about 15 feet  ( 6inches to 1ft in depth)

[Suz]

Thanks Skippy,

That will be the hike next week... for me.  Turkey Foot Falls to Fall Creek Falls.  It will be a nice long walk, adventure, and waterfalls.  Have fun in VA.

Suz

[Lesley]

I have not been to Eagle/Little Ugly area.  I was angling to go there this last weekend, but with the threat of bad weather I was nervous about going some place totally new.  We'll have to plan a trip out that way soon. I hope everyone warmed up, it took a long bath at near boiling temperatures before I felt human again.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Merlesray,

It was around 59 degrees INDOORS when I got back. I forgot that my apartment's central heat only works successfully down to an exterior temperature of about 35 degrees. The dog was more than a little ticked, and I had to switch the heat to "Emergency Heat" to finally even things out. Not the warm welcome I would have hoped for.

If we can get above 40 towards the beginning weeks of February, it would be a perfect time for Eagle Creek & Little Ugly. And there is no running out of stuff to do by 1, because you can always just head over to Hemlock Creek's canyon, or even Wolfpen. I've only been as far as the base of Eagle Creek Falls. If you own, or have access to a copy of Alabama's Canyons, you can see that Eagle, Little Ugly, and Hemlock Creeks are positively amazing with some water in them. The only disadvantage is that there are two ways in, the hard/easy way (walking/navigating), and the easy/hard way (walking/navigating). You can take the low road, and follow the drainage, which takes about 45 minutes to the top of Eagle Creek Falls, depending on deadfall conditions. The can also take the high road (see Alabama's Canyons for waypoints), which is supposedly easier going, but harder to navigate. I've always taken the drainage, because there is no chance of getting lost. I also seen an otter in the drainage, which was cool. There is an excellent campsite just above Eagle Creek Falls, nice and flat and wide, but carrying gear in for camping would be a challenge with all the deadfall.

[Rob]

    Great replies folks. Enjoyed the Pics Josh.